Make Your Offshore Pension Work Harder

Submitted by admin on Tue, 02/10/2012 - 18:20

Expats drawing their pension into a UK based bank account risk suffering from the vagaries of the foreign exchange markets. New advice suggests that expats should consider being more savvy with their international currency transfers.

If expats transfer money once a month instead of once a quarter or once every 6 months they will be better placed to take advantage of favourable rates. With the value of the euro trending down against the pound expats transferring between those currencies need to pay particular attention.

However expats should take note that high fees could render any potential saving as a loss.

Something else to consider is the agent used to transfer funds across borders. Whilst many people continue to head straight to a bank for their foreign exchange needs, this is not the only option.

In the past few years the rise of specialist foreign exchange companies often charging less than the banks means that expats have access to a wide range of providers often at a cheaper price.

Daniel Abrahams of FX comparison site MyCurrencyTransfer.com told The Telegraph, ‘‘With innovative peer-to-peer models attracting buzz, coupled with the tremendous value in transacting with non-bank foreign exchange specialists, what has emerged is a credible challenge to the traditional, expensive alternative of going blindly with a high street bank.”